Paul, Sarah, and Baby Mary!!

  Happy Birthday to Brianna on Wednesday! I was playing around with Mary and I was pretending to eat her toes.  When I stopped, she pushed her foot against my mouth like she didn't want me to stop.  It made me laugh.  Then, the next day, I gave her little toes kisses while she was crying and she was comforted by that.  She's such a sweet girl. I felt like I had a lot to do on Monday, so I was going to skip napping in the afternoon while Mary slept, but she decided she wanted to have a snuggly nap, so I snuggled with her and rested instead. While I was pregnant, I often felt Mary's little foot poking out my right side.  She usually has her left leg extended, so I'm convinced that her left foot was the foot poking out. Saturday night, Mary had a gas bubble that was really hurting her and she was super tired, so we spent the whole night trying to calm her down.  Paul eventually succeeded.  When she was calm enough, I fed her and put her to bed around 1 am. (she is usually

We had a good week with Wendy.  We enjoyed the last couple of days handing Mary to someone else so we could go to bed and also enjoyed not having to worry about making our own meals.   There was an Arctic Freeze this week, so Wendy had to fly out Wednesday morning instead of her original plan of staying until Thursday morning.  It was really good she was able to change her flight because all the Thursday flights were canceled at DFW because of all the ice and snow.  She was delayed in Atlanta but was eventually able to make it to Florida for her Usborne Conference. We checked into a hotel to avoid the same issues we experienced with the snowstorm last year.  The hotel was pretty gross, even though we stayed there before and it was okay last time.  The storm wasn't as bad as last year and we overreacted but better to be safe than sorry when we have a 1-month-old baby. Paul finished writing his two abstracts for his qualifying exam.  Once he passes this exam he will be awarded a mast

 

  This week has been great! Mom has cooked for us every night and kept the apartment clean while giving Mary all the Nana snuggles.  She has been taking care of her in the nighttime so Paul and I could sleep and I feel so much better and have a lot more energy since Mary was born. We took Mom on a drive around downtown one night. We also went shopping and I took her to Buc-ee's.  She didn't have room in her suitcase for a proper souvenir but we'll make sure she gets the full experience when she comes back with Dad in March. Mary had her 2-week appointment this week. She is 20.8 in (78th %), 8 lb 12.5 oz (73rd %) and her head is 36.8 cm (91st %). The pediatrician wanted her to be 3 oz. heavier but said she looked really healthy.  Paul felt sick on Thursday and stayed home all weekend. He was frustrated but I was happy. I made pancakes for us. Mom got to Iowa safely on Friday. It was so great having her. We cleaned the apartment and picked up Wendy from the airport that eveni

 

 

Some things I forgot from last week is that Mary's umbilical cord fell off on Sunday and we got a cute bear from Uncle Joe Joe. Monday, Paul was supposed to start back at work but he took another day off to be with me and Mary.  Mike and Wendy were going to go with me to the lactation consultation but Wendy stayed awake until 4 am the night before looking after Mary, so we let her sleep and Paul went with me to our 8 am appointment.  Mary weighed 8 lbs. 7 oz. (79%).  She is 3 oz. away from her birth weight, which she will definitely hit by next week.  She has been eating so well.   After the appointment, Paul dropped me off at home and he went to the store to get some items the lactation specialist suggested for me.  I joined the video call with Ben that morning for a minute so he could meet Mary.  Later that day, we drove up to the farm and fed some animals.  Mary met her first longhorn and got some very cute cowboy boots from Grandma Wendy.  She is embracing her Texan birthright.

Highlights for the week are Monday I got to join in with Ben's weekly video call.  It was good to chat with him for a couple of hours.  I made a steak salad for dinner with bleu cheese dressing. Tuesday I felt excited about Andrew's assignment to create a PowerPoint presentation for my proposed idea for our family vacation in 1.5 years, so I put together a little slide show.  I made buffalo chicken sandwiches for dinner. Wednesday was my weekly doctor's appointment.  We decided we wouldn't induce me until after my due date and would see if Mary will come on her own in the next two weeks.  I have been able to feel contractions this week, so I am hopeful that this next week will be the week she arrives.  I made mom's nacho chicken for dinner.  It is one of our favorite meals.  Thursday I woke up and had a very itchy rash on my belly.  My whole belly was covered in small red dots.  I emailed my doctor and she said it was probably PUPPS and suggested I use hydrocortison

Monday was my first official day of being unemployed.  I went to the gym, installed our car seat, went for a walk in the afternoon, and got my covid booster shot.  The weather was beautiful for a walk.  It was sunny and in the 80s.  I got my booster shot in the building that is across the street from Paul's lab, so I went to see him afterward and we got some burgers together.  Because he took a dinner break with me he had to work a little later but he didn't mind. Happy anniversary to Jacob and Brianna on Tuesday!  Tuesday was a little crazy.  I went to the gym and realized I didn't have any cell service.  Dad had texted me the day before and arranged that I would keep service until I was able to switch to Paul's phone plan over the weekend.  I guess they did not honor his request.  I didn't have time to fix it right away so I finished my workout and got ready for the day.  I had a doctor's appointment that morning and I guess Mary was excited about it because s